Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great speaker - clear, versatile, perfect for small room, August 28, 2013

Bought these for a dorm room for my son, who is very critical with his music. Considered the Shift A2 from another company, but the reports of the hiss made me look elsewhere. Spent significant time looking at speakers, computer speakers did not appear to offer enough response, durability seemed questionable, and did not have switching capability. Most monitors were more expensive or larger or required an external amp, which wasn't an option. So there are some good choices available in the bookshelf range, but budget kept the choices limited. The built in DSP of the Vanatoos made them very price competitive with others that required an external DSP module in addition to the speakers. Plus, just look at the frequency response curve for these and you'll be sold.

Plugged these in and couldn't even tell they were on until the music started and my gosh, the clarity. Tried both analog and digital connections from Laptop and TV and could not tell difference - auto switching exactly as described and yes, you will have issues with two digital sources as described in the manual. The digital source does not let go of the connection so the auto-switch may not work. Switched one source to the 3.5mm connector and it all worked as expected. Tried the iPad through the headphone jack and they work great.

The upper end is very clear, piano, horns, guitar, it all sounds better. Low end surprised me, very full bass, but not a lot of chest thump as you would expect. However, bass heavy metal, for example, will still vibrate the desk, the chair, the windows, and annoy the neighbors as well as others down the hall. Placement of these is crucial as distance from wall will change the sound. We did not put these on stands and they may still get moved depending on furniture placement and listening position. We did attach the included vinyl nubbies on the bottom of the speakers - seemed to help limit vibration transfer to shelf and stop them from moving during louder, more dynamic music.

Volume control can be from PC or speaker. On the 'inexpensive' TV we hooked it up to however, digital out is not controlled by TV so this can be annoying. Have NOT tried analog out from TV to see if volume is variable from TV remote. This isn't a big deal, as you can switch the active speaker between left or right to make the volume on the back more accessible.

Initially considered adding a sub, but after some time, don't know if it is needed. Again, bass response is much better than expected out of a speaker this small. They don't seem to get hot and are small enough to place just about anywhere. The auto source switching is very nice. After two weeks in the dorm, the comment was, "they have a warmth I'm not used to, it's great, great for a small room."